Always be Flexible, Because Plans Change

It’s been a little while since I posted anything and there’s a good reason for that, I’ve been busy. After leaving an automotive restoration shop the day after Christmas last year, I set out to make my way as a writer and author. I vowed I’d never work for someone else again. I half way succeeded. I am now the feature writer and editor for an online automotive magazine. But I’m working for someone else again. Oddly enough a very prominent custom car builder shop near me called me up out of the blue one day after having my old resume forwarded to them by another shop owner I am friends with and asked if I’d be interested in coming to work there.

I went and checked out the shop and long story short I accepted a position. Is it what I’d planned to be doing, no it’s not. While I could have afforded to turn it down, it’s not often that you have the opportunity to work for a SEMA show award winner handed to you on a silver platter. The upside is I get paid really well to work on classic muscle cars and improve my welding and fabrication skills. I’ll also be able to finish paying off some old debt much faster than I planned while also building up my own home garage and equipment wish list. I’m all for entrepreneurship and making your own way, but sometimes working a job is just the smart way to go if it aligns with your own goals and plans.

So here I am once again, building cars and playing with welders and metal. I’d thought I’d gone past this point but the truth is there’s nothing wrong with working with your own two hands to create metal art. That brings us to the No Bullshit point of the day, real men work with their hands.

It’s somehow become “uncool” to have a blue collar job these days. It’s as if getting dirty and sweaty during the coarse of the day is a thing to be avoided at all cost. My problem is this has been the norm for most of my life, it’s what I was taught to be as a man by those that came before me. My grandfather frequently preached the things a man should know how to do to me and my brother when we were young and kicking around the pine forests of eastern North Carolina, in the mid and late 80’s.

Among those things were, work on your own car, maintain your own home, plant your own garden, fix your own appliances, keep your word, be a man other men would follow, and know how to fight, drink, and make love to your wife, not necessarily in that order. I like to think I’ve mastered those things by this point in my life. I’m also wise enough to recognize there is still a lot to learn though so I try to keep an open mind about things.

One of the reasons I took this new job was the opportunity to work with and learn from some true craftsman and masters in the field of automotive fabrication. These last few years my growth as a fabricator and metal worker has stagnated from lack of a good teacher. The internet and YouTube are awesome for learning but its not the same as a real live mentor correcting your mistakes in real time. I’m tired of being the most knowledgeable person in the building.

So to quote the Godfather, “…Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in…” or something like that. This brings me to another point my grandfather and the Marine Corps taught me, “Semper Gumby” or always be flexible. I’d planned on this being the year I built my social media empire and conquered the world, instead I’ll be making 60K a year building one-off custom muscle cars for wealthy people. I’m okay with that for the time being. It affords me certain opportunities to explore other avenues I’ve had in mind these last few months. Until I see you all again here on the NoBullshit Male, keep it real and simple.